CPJ Deputy Director Robert Mahoney counts down the 10 countries where the
press is most tightly restricted. How do leaders in these nations silence the
media? And which country is the worst of all? (4:03)

Read CPJ's report on the 10 Most Censored countries for more detail
on how censorship works, and which countries were the runners-up.

CPJ's
Journalist Assistance Program supports journalists who cannot be helped by
advocacy alone. In 2011, we assisted 171 journalists worldwide. Almost
a fourth came from countries that made CPJ's Most Censored list. Eight journalists from Eritrea,
five from Syria, six from Cuba, and a whopping 20 from Iran sought our help
after being forced to leave their countries, having suffered the consequences
of defying censorship at home.

In 2010, following midsummer negotiations between the
Catholic Church and the government of President Raúl Castro, Cuban authorities
began releasing imprisoned journalists, sending them into forced exile with their
families. In April 2011, the last of more than 20 journalists arrived in Spain.
They had been granted liberty and respite, and were promised support from
Spanish authorities while they settled into the new country. But almost two
years after the first crop of journalists arrived in Spain, the four who remain
in the country are living under extremely difficult
conditions, struggling even to feed themselves.

Sunday marked the end of the
four-month deadline Cuban President Raúl Castro had agreed to with
representatives of the Cuban Catholic Church and the Spanish government to free
52 prisoners of conscience who remained in jail since the March 2003 crackdown
against dissidents, known as the "Black Spring." The Spanish foreign minister
at the time, Miguel Angel Moratinos, said in Havana on July 8 that the move to
release the prisoners "opens a new era in Cuba." But have things changed
in the EU regarding Cuba? Not really. Has anything changed on the island? Not
really. On Monday, at midnight, 13 of the 52 prisoners remained in jailed.